Resources
- ACLU | LGBTQ+ Rights
- Contemporary Policy Institute | LGBTQ+ Transgender Facilities & Parental Rights
- Families Not Politics
- Forced Outing of Transgender Youth in Schools
- GLAAD
- Inside Out Youth Services
- Mahmoud v. Scopes Lessons from the Long History of School Opt-Outs | AHA
- Mama Dragons
- No, trans women don’t have inherent advantage over cis women in sports: new study
- PFLAG
- Rocky Mountain Equality: VOTE NO ON THESE 2026 INITIATIVES
- The Trevor Project
- Transathlete.com/k-12 policies
- Transgender Athletes Could Be At A Physical Disadvantage, New Research Shows
- Welcoming Schools
- When “Good Citizens” Disagree: An Educational Historian Weighs in on the Competing Visions for American Schools (Ep. 44)
Articles
July 2026
- “Dangerously broad” federal book ban bill would bar kids from reading books about “transgenderism”
- The American Library Association (ALA) is sounding the alarm as a federal bill seeking to ban “sexually oriented material” in public schools makes its way through Congress.
- S.B. 4925 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 24. Officially named the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” it defines “sexually oriented material” as “any program, activity, literature, or material that exposes such children to nude adults, individuals who are stripping, or lewd or lascivious dancing,” as well as anything that “involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism.”
June 2026
- Academy District 20 bans book with trans narrative | Fox
- The Academy District 20 school board in El Paso County unanimously voted last week to remove the book “Almost Perfect” from high school libraries. This decision, made during Pride Month, stems from concerns regarding a list of resources included in the book.
- School districts, trans kids pay for anti-trans lawsuits cropping up across U.S.
- In the battle over Illinois’ protections for trans students, the Trump administration has leveled federal investigations against several school districts that already face costly suits from conservative legal groups and local parents. One district’s costs are almost $360,000.
- Congress Seizes on ‘Parents Rights’ Agenda to Nationalize Censorship in Public Schools | PEN America
- Two bills, both misleadingly titled, HR 2616, the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, and HR 7661, the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, advanced earlier this spring. Together, they would use federal education funding to pressure schools to restrict materials, student support, and instruction related to gender identity. Schools that fail to comply risk losing those funds. Framed as parental protections, the bills use that leverage to shape what schools teach, what materials students can access, and how educators support vulnerable students. Their proponents have explicitly focused on gender- and sexuality-themed materials, continuing a pattern of policies that marginalize LGBTQ+ students while creating a framework for broader educational censorship.
- In a 2025 report, PEN America highlighted research from the Florida Freedom to Read Project that found that where parents were given genuine individual choice over their own children’s library access, the overwhelming majority chose access over restriction. The restrictions imposed through “parental-rights” legislation do not reflect what most parents want for their own children. The bills before Congress seek to nationalize this agenda.
- District says 61 boys the Trump administration found on girls’ sports rosters were mascots, managers | Chalkbeat
- Last June, the office launched an investigation into Jeffco’s policy on sleeping arrangements for transgender students on overnight school trips. The policy says transgender students should share rooms with peers who match their gender identity. A family had sued the district after their 11-year-old daughter was assigned to share a bed with a transgender student.
- Conservative School Activists Say They Are ‘Working Directly With the U.S. Department of Education’ | CTR
- In a recent news segment on the investigation by CBS Colorado, Lori Gimelshteyn and her organization, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN), were credited with filing the Title VI complaints that prompted OCR to investigate. On its official social media accounts, CPAN has also promoted itself as having incited the investigation.
April 2026
March 2026
Feb. 2026- Federal court rules that Christian teacher has to follow the rules & use trans kids’ pronouns | LGBTQ Nation
- Federal judge recommends dismissal of lawsuit by Colorado school districts over transgender athletes | Chalkbeat
- Clever as serpents’: How a legal group’s anti-LGBTQ policies took root in school districts across a state | Hechinger Report
- Why I teach an LGBTQ+ college course | News From the States
- Should schools reveal students’ LGBTQ+ identity to parents? Teachers to ask the Supreme Court to decide | K-12 Dive
2025
- Out Rep. Angie Craig reintroduces bill to protect LGBTQ+ foster kids from rampant discrimination | LGBTQ Nation
- Supreme Court turns away parental rights dispute brought by Colorado families | CBS
- Federal judge dismisses lawsuit on JeffCo policy on overnight rooming policy for transgender students | CPR
- Gay teacher doxxed by Libs of TikTok speaks out | The Advocate
- Colorado Springs teachers speak out against textbook censorship and anti-LGBTQ+ policies | Rocky Mountain PBS
- US judge to block Trump directive to cut ‘gender ideology’ from states’ sex ed materials | USA Today
- Federal judge rules in favor of public schools in 16 states that refused to comply with Trump’s trans ban | The Advocate
2023
- Lawsuit from Colorado parents who claimed harm from after-school sexuality meeting dismissed | Colorado Newsline
- “Wang’s decision throws a wrench into a growing conservative parents rights movement that aims to limit what schools can teach about gender, sexuality and race without the express written consent of parents. The case gained national attention from outlets like Fox News, which claimed a Colorado mother was suing the school district over a “secret gender transition club.”
2022
Colorado School Boards / Anti-Transgender Sports Policy Timeline
Colorado’s policy landscape regarding transgender student-athletes has transitioned from a highly inclusive statewide framework to a fractured system shaped by local district pushback, high-profile litigation, and an upcoming statewide vote.
2019–2022: Establishing Statewide Inclusion
- 2019: The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) establishes a formal Transgender Policy Procedure. It affirms the right of transgender student-athletes to participate in interscholastic activities aligned with their gender identity, mandating confidential, school-level evaluations rather than biological restrictions.
- March 2020: Conservative lawmakers attempt to override CHSAA’s inclusive framework by introducing House Bill 20-1273 (the “Equality and Fairness in Youth Sports Act”). The bill seeks to prohibit students assigned male at birth from participating on girls’ teams in grades 6-12. It fails to pass the Democratic-controlled legislature.
2023–2024: Legislative Defeats and Grassroots Shifting
- January–February 2023: Republican lawmakers introduce House Bill 23-1098 (“Women’s Rights in Athletics”), which aims to limit athletic teams to biological sex at birth and establish civil remedies for noncompliance. The House Committee on State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs postpones the bill indefinitely on February 13, 2023.
- Early 2024: Conservative activist groups, led by Protect Kids Colorado, attempt to advance multiple anti-LGBTQ+ and restrictions-based citizen initiatives. The Colorado Title Board rejects several early versions due to procedural and single-subject formatting violations.
May 2025: District Rebellion and Federal Lawsuits
- May 8, 2025: El Paso County School District 49 passes a controversial policy, “Preserving Fairness and Safety in Sports,” banning transgender middle and high school students from girls’ sports teams.
- May 9, 2025: District 49 files a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against CHSAA, the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. The district argues that state-level inclusion rules force them to choose between violating state non-discrimination laws or violating federal Title IX guidelines. Seven other conservative-leaning districts and charter networks quickly sign on as co-plaintiffs.
July–November 2025: The Grassroots Ballot Push
- July 25, 2025: Activists Erin Lee and Michele Austin officially file a state citizen initiative targeting trans youth in sports.
- August 25, 2025: The state clears the initiative—designated as Initiative 109—for signature gathering.
- November 2025: Following a federal executive order threatening funding cuts for schools with inclusive gender policies, additional major school systems—including the Douglas County School Board—begin drafting localized bans on transgender athletes.
December 2025: CHSAA Settles and Decentralizes Enforcement
- December 4–5, 2025: CHSAA reaches a finalized settlement agreement with the eight plaintiff school districts. In exchange for a collective $60,000 payment from the districts, CHSAA agrees not to sanction or penalize any school that separates athletic teams based strictly on biological sex.
- The Aftermath: This effectively legalizes a patchwork system in Colorado. While state civil rights protections remain intact, CHSAA drops its enforcement power, allowing individual conservative districts to bar transgender girls from female sports categories. The lawsuit against the Attorney General and Civil Rights Division continues independently.
March 2026: Initiative 109 Qualifies for the Ballot
- February 20, 2026: Protect Kids Colorado submits 164,922 signatures to the state.
- March 16–17, 2026: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announces that a random sample has validated the signatures, officially qualifying Initiative 109 for the statewide ballot.
- March 28, 2026: LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, led by One Colorado, launch the coalition campaign “Families not Politics” to mount a multimillion-dollar voter education and counter-campaign against the measure.
Upcoming – November 3, 2026: The Voters Decide
- The Upcoming Vote: Coloradans will cast their votes on Initiative 109. If a simple majority votes “Yes,” it will override CHSAA’s previous inclusive bylaws entirely, establishing a strict statutory requirement that all public K-12 and collegiate athletic teams in Colorado be divided strictly by biological sex assigned at birth.
Additional Articles
- District 49 suspends restroom, locker room policy based on ‘biological sex’ months after approval | The Gazette
- Colorado Springs school district approves policy on transgender student athletes
- Rural Colorado district takes aim at LGBTQ policy protections, seeks to join trans athlete lawsuit
- Outgoing Douglas County school board adds two agenda items to one of their final meetings
- Colorado voters will decide whether to ban trans kids from gendered sports, outlaw gender-affirming surgery for children